scooby1350
Member
I am going to be adding more power heads to my tank and was wondering if it is a good Idea to have a few of them turn off when the lights turn off? or should I run them all the time. Is it a bad thing to turn them off?
Turing off Power heads
- Thread starter scooby1350
- Start date
ryanhayes9
Active Member
the waves dont stop in the ocean at night so i wopuld leave them on
lion_crazz
Active Member
I would not turn them off. You do not want the oxygen level to decrease at night anymore than it already does.
Besides that, that will put quite the strain on the pumps and shorten their life drastically.
Besides that, that will put quite the strain on the pumps and shorten their life drastically.
fbm
Active Member
Originally Posted by lion_crazz
I would not turn them off. You do not want the oxygen level to decrease at night anymore than it already does.
Besides that, that will put quite the strain on the pumps and shorten their life drastically.
How does turning off power heads keep oxygen levels up? I was under the impression that power heads add in keeping oxygen levels up by gas exchange on the agitated surface? And also I always thought it was better to leave any electrical pump run consitantly because it is the starting and stopping that cause wear not the actuall runnnig most of the time.
I would not turn them off. You do not want the oxygen level to decrease at night anymore than it already does.
Besides that, that will put quite the strain on the pumps and shorten their life drastically.
How does turning off power heads keep oxygen levels up? I was under the impression that power heads add in keeping oxygen levels up by gas exchange on the agitated surface? And also I always thought it was better to leave any electrical pump run consitantly because it is the starting and stopping that cause wear not the actuall runnnig most of the time.
scooby1350
Member
I could see the fact that it prevents water from sitting still in the live rocks which could effect o2 levels.
As for decreasing the pumps life I could, say it might affect it by a little. If it recked the pump people would not use wave makers that turn pumps on and off.
As for decreasing the pumps life I could, say it might affect it by a little. If it recked the pump people would not use wave makers that turn pumps on and off.
lion_crazz
Active Member
Originally Posted by fbm
How does turning off power heads keep oxygen levels up? I was under the impression that power heads add in keeping oxygen levels up by gas exchange on the agitated surface? And also I always thought it was better to leave any electrical pump run consitantly because it is the starting and stopping that cause wear not the actuall runnnig most of the time.
You missed when I said I would NOT turn them off. Reread my post. We agree on the same things.
How does turning off power heads keep oxygen levels up? I was under the impression that power heads add in keeping oxygen levels up by gas exchange on the agitated surface? And also I always thought it was better to leave any electrical pump run consitantly because it is the starting and stopping that cause wear not the actuall runnnig most of the time.
You missed when I said I would NOT turn them off. Reread my post. We agree on the same things.
lion_crazz
Active Member
No problem.
benter
Member
I guess I am the oddball here. The ocean does calm down quite a bit at night and providing you are adding EXTRA powerheads...then I would shut one or two of them off at night when lights go out. I actually run a closed loop where I have my return pump and the closed loop pump isolated. At night when lights go out I shut down my closed loop pump with my lights timer and only run my return pump and turn on the closed loop pump again in the A:M when the lights come back on. I have worked around pumps all my life and it will not damage your powerhead by shutting it off for a few hours a night. What will cause more damage to a powerhead that anything is short cycling through something like a wavemaker, where it is going off and on rather quickly. IMO shutting it off at night will only prolong the life of the powerhead, and give your tank a more realistic ocean simulation...again this is only my opinion....
f14peter
Member
Originally Posted by Benter
I guess I am the oddball here. The ocean does calm down quite a bit at night and providing you are adding EXTRA powerheads...then I would shut one or two of them off at night when lights go out. I actually run a closed loop where I have my return pump and the closed loop pump isolated. At night when lights go out I shut down my closed loop pump with my lights timer and only run my return pump and turn on the closed loop pump again in the A:M when the lights come back on. I have worked around pumps all my life and it will not damage your powerhead by shutting it off for a few hours a night. What will cause more damage to a powerhead that anything is short cycling through something like a wavemaker, where it is going off and on rather quickly. IMO shutting it off at night will only prolong the life of the powerhead, and give your tank a more realistic ocean simulation...again this is only my opinion....
Not exactly doubting you, but I'm also not following you, but then again I'm not an expert. IIRC, the motion-of-the-ocean is affected by gravitational affect of the moon (Orbit unrelated to the sun), weather, storms, currents, Earth's rotation, landmasses and seabottom topography, etc. What does the effect of merely the sun going down have? Considering the vastness of oceans, I'm not sure if warming from the sun would have that much affect. Undoubtedly some gravitational effect from the sun, but I've been at the coast unnumerable times and have seen waves being just a frisky at night.
I guess I am the oddball here. The ocean does calm down quite a bit at night and providing you are adding EXTRA powerheads...then I would shut one or two of them off at night when lights go out. I actually run a closed loop where I have my return pump and the closed loop pump isolated. At night when lights go out I shut down my closed loop pump with my lights timer and only run my return pump and turn on the closed loop pump again in the A:M when the lights come back on. I have worked around pumps all my life and it will not damage your powerhead by shutting it off for a few hours a night. What will cause more damage to a powerhead that anything is short cycling through something like a wavemaker, where it is going off and on rather quickly. IMO shutting it off at night will only prolong the life of the powerhead, and give your tank a more realistic ocean simulation...again this is only my opinion....
Not exactly doubting you, but I'm also not following you, but then again I'm not an expert. IIRC, the motion-of-the-ocean is affected by gravitational affect of the moon (Orbit unrelated to the sun), weather, storms, currents, Earth's rotation, landmasses and seabottom topography, etc. What does the effect of merely the sun going down have? Considering the vastness of oceans, I'm not sure if warming from the sun would have that much affect. Undoubtedly some gravitational effect from the sun, but I've been at the coast unnumerable times and have seen waves being just a frisky at night.
scooby1350
Member
See that is what I was thinking, because I do run 3 power heads and I know that the ocean for the most part clams down, so I was thinking of only turn off one. This way it will give a my fish a way to sleep with out getting blown away.
hagfish
Active Member
You are not considering that this changes the PH. The ocean is much larger and much more stable. If you remove 1/3 of the method of oxygenation in a short time it might have an effect on PH swings. Now, I doubt it would cause a huge disaster or anything, but it might cause a little trouble over time.
hagfish
Active Member
I was going to say that too Bang. The ocean doesn't have protein skimmers and other mechanical filtration to help keep chemicals stable either. Turning off 1/3 of the powerheads makes it that much harder to get waste to the filters.
When you think about it, a lot of the things we do don't simulate the ocean. But it improves our small aquatic environments and that is why we do it.
When you think about it, a lot of the things we do don't simulate the ocean. But it improves our small aquatic environments and that is why we do it.